Higher 2021 budget eyed to bounce back from COVID-19
MANILA, Philippines — The Duterte administration is eyeing a bigger budget for 2021 than what it initially planned to propose before Congress, an indication the government is preparing a longer bounce-back from the economic fallout from the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19).
In a text message to Philstar.com, Budget Undersecretary Laura Pascua said "certainly there will be an increase" from the Duterte government's penultimate budget proposal of P4.64 trillion for next year, but added the exact amount is yet to be determined.
"We will have to evaluate the nature of requests," Pascua said.
The budget department is currently collating funding requests from agencies for the 2021 outlay originally set 13.2% up from P4.1 trillion this year. President Rodrigo Duterte is likely to sign off on the proposal by end-June, which will be submitted for legislature's consideration during his State of the Nation Address in the fourth week of July.
Pascua's statement underscores the extent of intervention economic officials plan should the number of COVID-19 cases show no sign of abating, while fears of its contagion continue to pull down consumption and economic activity for months.
Even before the 2021 budget is even discussed, funds are already being made available. Late Tuesday, economic officials agreed to an additional P2.92 billion for DOH, allocations to be sourced from the contributions of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) to the President's social fund.
A Marcos-era allocation governed by Presidential Decree 1869, the presidential social fund is an off-budget outlay funded by a portion of Pagcor earnings. Since it is not part of the annual outlay, the fund is not subject to auditing and Congress approval.
“Things are still very fluid but we are responding first to the immediate needs now,” Pascua said.
The sourcing of additional budget seemed from Pagcor seemed to be in response to the President's justification of the much-criticized offshore gaming industry, whose P5.7-billion earnings last year formed part of the gaming regulators' income.
That said, lawmakers are likewise preparing to allocate more funds to DOH through a supplemental budget worth P1.65 billion, although the bill is far from passage as it just hurdled a Lower House committee on Tuesday.
"I am not so familiar with the supplemental budget being requested by DOH," Pascua said.
$500-million more external borrowings
Higher funding requests come as the government gears up for fewer revenues this year. On Tuesday, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said COVID-19 would incur up to P91 billion in forgone revenues as fears result into cancellations of activities like travel that contribute state taxes.
As a consequence, the finance chief told Philstar.com in a text message borrowings would rise “by the amount of the shortfall” this year. Broken down, 70% of P91 billion would be sourced locally, while 30% would come from offshore sources.
Mathematically, that would mean around $500 million in added borrowings for this year, using a P50:$1 exchange rate. - with Prinz Magtulis
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